Battle Camp: The Rebellion V. 2

I'm the worst person in the history of everything. I am so sorry, not that it matters to you guys. You should all hate me (you probably do), and I have no excuse. I will give you two chapters for you putting up with me. Here you are.

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Chapter Nine
Talon

Talon walked into the Battle Room, wearing the unfamiliar grey uniform. He had created a plan the previous night, but he had yet to share it with the rest of his team with everything he had discovered. He hoped that this would not be a mistake he regretted.

The man in the black cloak was standing in the middle of the room. The crates had been stacked as the diagram they received yesterday had said they would be. Shadow beckoned for the rest of the teams to enter. There seemed to be weapons at his feat.

“Now that you’re all here, I’m going to explain how this is going to work. First, I’d like you to come up here and take the replicas of your weapons that are on the ground.”

Talon quickly recognized his battered sword and grabbed it right away. A soldier walked up to him and asked for his original weapon. After reluctantly giving it up, Talon slid the copy into his sheath. It fit perfectly. Talon took it back out to look at it. It was made of an unfamiliar dark gray material. He ran the blade along his hand, but it did not cut him. It could still bruise an opponent, but it wouldn’t harm them too much.

“Your weapons are made out of magic enhanced material that will not cause significant injuries to your opponent.” The man paused to emphasize this point. “Your uniforms and weapons have both been spelled. If a sword is touched to a limb, the fabric around that limb will freeze up, hampering that person’s ability to fight. If the sword hits the heart, the whole uniform will freeze up rendering them useless and defeated. Your goal is to defeat the team you are up against. Alex and Talon’s teams are up first. What have you decided on for your names?”

“We’re Dragonfire,” Alex said.

Talon heard someone behind him curse. “But we’re Icefire,” the boy muttered.

“Our team is The Rebellion,” Talon said.

The man in the cloak stared at Talon. Talon stared challengingly back at him. He wanted him to think that they were on to something. If they played their cards right, they wouldn’t get found out. But the thought would still be lingering in the back of his mind. Talon was fairly sure that he could handle whatever this mysterious man sent his way.

“The Rebellion, head left. This will be your side. Dragonfire, head right,” the man said. “We will be watching from the Teacher’s Lookout, up there.” He pointed to a spot about ten feet off of the ground where there was a room that looked out onto the battlefield. “The rest of the teams will watch from there.” He pointed to a nearly identical room on the wall opposite from the Teacher’s Lookout. The battle will begin when the bell rings. Go to your sides.” The teachers opened a door and walked up a staircase leading up to their lookout, and the recruits did the same.

The Rebellion and Dragonfire both walked to their designated sides. Talon jogged ahead of his group, impatient to tell them the plan.

“Okay, guys. Here’s what we’re going to do. Rora, you will keep the mage occupied and help with the archer, Ari. Shorlorn, you will fight the other protector and the archer. I’ll take Alex. Luke will climb that middle crate, and when I give the signal, he will defeat our opponents. Don’t defeat your opponents yourself, let Luke. Okay?”

The Rebellion nodded, not quite as nervous as they would have been had there not been other things to worry about. Talon was surprised that he wasn’t distracted as he had to come up with two plans at once. Planning just came naturally to him.

The bell rang and the Rebellion charged into enemy territory. Dragonfire seemed prepared for them but a bit nervous. Talon went straight for Alex, who seemed too confident. Talon knew that by the end of this fight Alex’s self-esteem will have gone down and his own would go up. Talon grinned and swung his sword at Alex, who blocked it easily. It only took a little while for Talon to settle into the fight. He could have defeated Alex already, but he had to follow his own rules. He heard a grunt and saw that Ari had been hit with one of Rora’s spells. He looked over to grin at Rora, only to almost have his head taken off by Alex’s sword. Right. No more distractions.

Talon got right back into the fight, pairing Alex’s every movie. Alex seemed to have realized that he was the lesser swordsman, but he hadn’t yet figured out why Talon refused to defeat him.

“Talon!” Rora called in a shrill voice. Talon turned towards her. She pointed at Luke, who was in position.

“Luke, go!” Talon shouted. Now, it was time to watch his plan unfold.

Luke already had two knives unsheathed. Before they met their targets, Luke had his next two out and flying through the air. One, two. Three, four. It was over that quickly. Talon raised his sword into the air and cheered in victory. A feeling of pride swelled up in his chest. It felt foreign and familiar all at once. Most of all, it felt right. Talon looked up to the Teacher’s Lookout and met the man in the cloak’s eyes, trying to convey this feeling.

Luke leapt down from his stack of crates and landed in a crouch. The rest of The Rebellion ran to him and congratulated him. Rora threw her arms around him in an enthusiastic hug. Luke grinned and accepted the appreciation graciously.

“Great job, Luke!” Talon said, a genuine grin stretching across his face.

“Congratulations, The Rebellion,” the man in the black cloak said. He had transported himself down into the battlefield. “You have won your first battle. Enter the Student’s Lookout. It’s Chaos and Icefire’s turn to battle.”

Talon began leading his group up to the Student’s Lookout, but stopped and turned to face Shadow, who was unfreezing an angry Dragonfire. Alex was yelling at Ari, who looked like she was about to cry.

“Excuse me,” Talon said, to get the man’s attention. “What’s your name?”

The man smiled, but it wasn’t a pleasant one. “That is not something you should bother thinking about. It is not important.”

Talon turned around and rolled his eyes. He continued on to the Student’s Lookout with his team. Once they were there, Rora hit him over the head. Thankfully, she didn’t have her books. Talon took a deep breath, preparing himself for Rora’s tantrum. He turned around, and expectant look on his face. He was getting used to Rora blowing up all the time. He was coming to expect it. It was actually pretty funny.

“Do you want us to get caught?” she asked, reigning in her anger.

“Just trust me,” Talon insisted. “We’ll be fine.”

To his surprise, Rora sighed and said, “Okay. I just keep think that I might have someone out there that’s worried about me. I don’t want them to worry.”

Talon looked at the floor. The same thought had occurred to him. Was that girl that he had seen in his mind worried about him? Did she want to know where he was? Was she searching? Most of all, he wanted to know what she meant to him. He closed his eyes and brought up the picture in his mind. He had done this often the night before, trying to fall asleep. Despite intense analysis, the vision-like picture had not gotten clearer. If anything, it was getting blurrier. It was a struggle just to hold on the sliver of his memory.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Dragonfire had joined them in the Student’s Lookout. Alex glared at him and then looked away. Patrick, their protector, looked at Talon apologetically. Talon shrugged. Alex would get over it.

“Talon, Cassie’s team is the green one. They’re called Chaos. Derrick’s team is Icefire, the blue one,” Luke told him. He watched the fight intently, while Talon kept trying to think up ways that the blonde girl could fit into his life. Maybe they should escape.

“Hey, Talon?” Luke said, looking away from the window.

“Yeah,” he said, rubbing his temples. Trying to remember things made his head hurt.
“What’s with Rora?” Luke asked.

Talon turned his head to see Rora with eyes closed. She was concentrating hard on something. Her teeth bit down hard on her lip, breaking the delicate skin. Blood spilled over from her lip and dribbled down her chin. Talon knew what was happening and panicked.

He walked up to Rora and slapped her. He didn’t want to harm her, but this had to be done.

“What are you doing?” Shorlorn shouted, drawing attention from Dragonfire. “You’re hurting her!”

“Shorlorn, you have to trust me. If I don’t do this, she’ll be a lot worse off.” Shorlorn backed off.

Talon slapped her again, this time, her eyes fluttered open. The area around her eyes looked bruised although Talon hadn’t touched her there. She looked exhausted and completely word out.

“No need to tell me what I did wrong. I know,” Rora said. Her voice was hoarse and timid.

“You overworked yourself. You used too much magic,” Talon said anyway, his expressions flashing from rage to concern and back again. “You could have died!”

“Thanks for saving me,” she said, quietly. She looked down.

Tiredness overtook Talon. “Don’t thank me, thank Luke,” Talon said. “He was the one who noticed you.”

“Thank you, Luke,” Rora said.

Throughout this whole exchange, Dragonfire watched. Talon dared Alex with his eyes to say something, and Alex backed right off. Talon didn’t fool himself into thinking that he would stay down for long. Alex was just biding his time.

The battle going on below them ended, with Icefire winning by a single person. They were told to go to dinner. It was an awkward occasion for everybody. Dragonfire separated themselves from the rest of the group by moving their table away. The conversation was a bit more awkward no matter how hard anyone tried to remedy the situation.

“He’ll get over it,” Talon said in one of his many attempts to get people talking again. “It was just one defeat. Once he realizes that The Rebellion will beat everyone, he’ll get over it.”

This was met by groans and denial. Talon smiled, but he wasn’t even totally into the conversation. His mind was miles away, calculating The Rebellion’s next move in their own private battle with the man in the black cloak.

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Chapter Ten
Rora

Rora had discovered that there was a big difference between waking up and being woken up. When you wake up yourself, you feel refreshed and everything seems a bit brighter. When you are woken up, everything is dark and makes you mad. This helps if you’re easy to anger and it’s the middle of the night.

“What is wrong with you?” Rora asked Talon through gritted teeth.

“The Rebellion needs to have a meeting. Come on, Rora. This is really important.”

Rora pulled herself out of her warm, comfortable bed and sat on the cold, hard floor of Talon’s section. Luke and Shorlorn were already there, looking just as sleepy. Talon was the only one who seemed wide awake.

“Why do we need to have this meeting, almighty Talon,” Rora said, grumpily.

Talon accepted the compliment with a smile and a nod. “Because, dearest Rora, I have a plan.”

“Talon has a plan. Go figure,” Shorlorn said.

“We’re going to send out scouts into the enemy’s territory.”

“What?” Luke asked. “This isn’t Tactical Strategies class, Talon.”

“Although it’s starting to feel like it.” Rora buried her face in her hands.

“Look, guys. I noticed something at dinner today. In the back wall of the dining room, there is a thin crack that runs from the floor to the ceiling. It’s very faint, but I think it’s a door that was designed to look like the cave wall,” Talon explained. “There’s nowhere for the teacher’s to sleep on our maps, but they have to sleep somewhere, right?”

“So we watch them sleep? Brilliant plan,” Rora suppressed her urge to tack on an “idiot.”

“First we have to scout it out before we spy on them,” Talon said. His tone of voice suggested that this was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Of course,” Rora said, pinching the bridge of her nose to dramatize her point. “Can we go back to sleep, now?”

“Well…” Talon trailed off. His face fell. “I was thinking of sending someone out tonight.”

Talon looked really heartbroken that she didn’t like his plan. It wasn’t that she didn’t like it, but she didn’t want to be woken up every night. “Aw, fine,” she said. “I’ll go.” She gets up and turns towards the door.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Talon said. “Wait a minute. I wasn’t saying that you should go.”

Rora ground her teeth together and turned back toward Talon. He didn’t want her to go because she was a girl, Rora inferred. He was going to regret saying that. “And why shouldn’t I be the one to go?” Rora asked. Her voice was as sweet as sugar.

Talon’s eyes widened. “I realize now that I have no answer,” he said, carefully choosing his words. “And if I did have a reason, which I do not, I would not voice that reason because said reason that I do not have would get my head taken off.”

“That’s exactly what I thought,” Rora said. “Though in fewer words.”

“Good luck, Rora,” Luke said, smiling.

“I’ll be fine,” she mumbled, and exited the room.

The hallways were darker than they normally were. The torches were still lit, but they seemed to be dimmed. It must have been magic. Rora jogged barefoot through the passageways that led to the Dining Room. She heard voices around the corner, and stopped. She almost laughed at her own stupidity. Of course there would be guards patrolling. The fact that Talon neglected to warn her made her wonder…. But she did leave in a hurry. She hid around the corner and waited for the guards to pass by.

Once they were gone, Rora raced on towards the Dining Room. The air tasted cool and earthy on her tongue, and the cold stone floors numbed her toes. She paused outside of the dining room and peered inside through the crack. There didn’t seem to be anyone in there. She heard the heavy falling of footsteps and knew that it was now or never. She opened the doors quickly and closed them as silently as she could behind her. Once the guards passed by, she began looking for the crack in the wall that Talon had mentioned.

Her body was shaking from the cold and from nerves. She would never tell anyone, but she was terrified. She walked around the tables which had been put back into their original positions to the back wall and dragged her hands against it. The first few times she did it, she didn’t feel any irregularities. By the fourth time, she was ready to give up. She took one hard look at the wall. Right in front of her nose was a crack so fine that it was hardly noticeable. How Talon noticed it from the table was incredible.

She ran her fingers over it and still couldn’t feel the difference even though she knew it was there. She slid her nails into the crack and pried it open. A soft glowing of light came from the hallway within. Unlike the hallways she had traveled through, this one was lit by orbs of white light. Rora stepped into the hallway. Her bare feet made no noise, and Rora was thankful. Now, all she had to do was stumble upon some information. She quietly made her way down the hall.

“I think they’re up to something,” a man’s voice said. Rora froze. That was the man in the black cloak’s voice. She put her ear up to the door so that she could listen more closely.

“I agree. The magic teachers told me that Talon asked about mind blocks today. What would possess him to do that?” It was their Training teacher.

“My guess is that the girl, Rora, discovered it,” the man said.

“Could she break it down?” Worry filled the Training teacher’s voice. Clearly she wanted this wall to stay up.

“She may be able to. She is the most powerful mage to come here in such a very long time.” The man almost sounded nostalgic at this point. “What I’m truly curious about is Talon.”

“Yes, he is quite extraordinary.” She must have changed positions after saying this because Rora heard the sound of feet shifting. She held her breath.

“He is. The only thing that miffs me about him is his refusal to believe that sacrifice will, at some point in time, be necessary. I am very curious about his team’s name, too.”

“Yes, the Rebellion. It certainly makes a statement.”

“He seems to be challenging me constantly, but in such a minute way that I doubt it will cause any trouble. But… the boy is incredibly smart. He could have guessed that I would think this.”

“He won’t do anything so bold right away,” the woman assured. “He’ll bide his time and collect information.” She yawned. “I think I’ll turn in. Goodnight…”

Rora didn’t stay long enough to hear the name of the man she was addressing.

Her breathing was quick and uneven as she scrambled to get out of the passageway before she exited the room. She pushed the door open with all her might and just barely stopped it before it slammed into the wall. She managed to close it just before she heard footsteps make their way out of the room and to another room in the hallway.

Rora thought over what she had heard as she walked back to her room. The guards no longer scared her. They were easy enough to avoid. It was almost as if they were trying not to see her. She should have been thinking about how the man thought she had found the mind block. What she was thinking about was how the man had said she was the most powerful mage he had seen in a while. Rora wasn’t modest; she knew she was a strong mage. She had yet to come across anything here that challenged her power. This thought thrilled her and filled her with dread. She had read in one of her books that powerful mages, commonly children of the high ones, mages that had achieved immortality and were revered like gods, burned brightly and quickly.

Rora tossed this thought aside. She would not die quickly. Those mages died because they thought their power was infinite. Rora knew differently. She knew exactly how much power she had at every given instant. It was like she had a catalog in her brain telling her how much power she had used on this or that spell and how much she had left. As for being born of the high ones, Rora doubted that. Or, did she? She couldn’t remember if she had a family. She didn’t even know if she had a mother or a father. Perhaps she was born of the high ones.

Rora had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t realized that she was standing in front of the door to her room. She pushed all thoughts of her heritage away and opened the door. She stepped in and heard the sounds of sleeping boys. Sighing, she walked over to Talon to wake him up. She poked him with a finger and then quickly drew it back remembering what happened last time. Strangely, Talon did not wake up. She poked him again, this time harder. He moaned in his sleep, but did not show any signs of waking. She took both of her hands and shook him, hard.

“Annabel!” he said, waking with a start.

“Who’s she?” Rora asked. Had Talon remembered someone from his past?

“Who?” he asked, wiping sweat from his forehead.

“Annabel. You said her name when I woke you up.”

“Did I?” he asked thoughtfully. “So that’s her name.”

“Whose name?” Rora asked feeling frustrated that they had come in a full circle without getting any answers.

Talon looked her in the eye and said with all honesty, “I don’t know.”

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Aaaaaaah! There you go. Two chapters, as promised. That last one is probably one of my favorites. Rora's anger makes me happy.

I'd like to take a moment to remind you all to remind me to update. The only reason I'm updating today is because DexterMime posted on my wall. You go, DexterMime. You deserve a cookie.

Thank you all for being so patient and not hunting me down to kill me! I appreciate that so very much.

So, so, so, so, sooooo sorry,
Lady

 

NO EXCUSES. I HAVE NONE. IT IS SUMMER AND I HAVE NO EXCUSES AND I'M SORRY. HAVE STORY.

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Chapter Eleven
Luke

Luke did not take crying lightly. It was something girls did, (well, perhaps not Rora) and he was not a girl. This being said, he seriously considered it when he was woken up for the second time that night. He allowed a slight whimper to escape his lips and then pulled himself together. This was important. Rora might have discovered something. He joined Rora and Shorlorn in Talon’s section.

“Alright, Rebellion,” Talon greeted them. “Let’s get down to business. Rora opened the door in the wall and found the teacher’s quarters. What did you discover, Rora?” Talon asked formally.

“Well, they think we’re up to something,” she recalled. “They think we know about the mind blocks, and they think I’m extremely powerful and could break it down.” She smirked at Talon. But, her self-satisfied smile quickly fell. “They think that Talon is exceptional.” Talon smiled at this.

“They think right. I am,” he said.

No one shared his smile. Luke rolled his eyes.

“Mr. Mysterious Cloak Man thinks that you’re smart and that you’re constantly challenging him. Then the lady said that you wouldn’t do anything like, say, spy on him, for a while. She said that you would take your time. Then she left.”

“I actually sent you to scout out the hallway.” Talon frowned. “But, that was a good night’s work.”

“Great,” Shorlorn said. “Will we be doing this every night?”

Talon didn’t seem to notice the desperation in his voice, but Luke heard it loud and clear. “Yeah, that was what I was thinking. We can discuss this more tomorrow. Let’s turn in.”

“Um, Talon?” Luke said.

“Yeah?”

“Rora,” he said, simply.

Talon whirled around to see Rora lying on the floor, unconscious. Talon ran up to her and shook her violently, a terrified look on his face. She groaned and sat up.

“You did it again!” Talon shouted.

Rora shied away from him, her dark-green eyes full of fear. “It won’t happen again,” she said, examining the floor. “I broke the wall.”

“Rora, that’s great,” Talon said, forgetting his anger. “Did you get your memories back?”

Rora nodded. “I wish I hadn’t, though. They’re awful.” Without needing prompting, she continued. “I found out that I was the youngest of many girls in a rich family. I was… I wasn’t treated well. Eventually, I found out I was a mage and used my powers to control my family. My father told the King I was out of control, and I supposed I was. I was taken away, but we were intercepted by two soldiers. I guess they were sent by the man in the black cloak. The palace guards released me, and I acted. The guards were easy to take out, but the soldiers were talented. They took me out with a fire spell. Then, I woke up here.”

Luke was stunned by her story, wondering if his was similar. The Rebellion dispersed into their separate sections without needing to be dismissed, silent.

XXXXX

Luke woke up before the bell rang. His chest was heavy with stale dreams and not enough sleep. He stretched but did not try to fall back asleep. There was no way that was happening. Instead, he pulled on a new set of clothes and tried to complete the Tactical Strategies assignment that he had avoided doing after dinner. An hour had passed when the bell finally rang and Luke had made little progress on his assignment. Luke didn’t really care. The only person who succeeded in Tactical Strategies was Talon. Luke couldn’t remember seeing Rora even looking at her assignment.

The Rebellion walked to breakfast, dragging their feet with every step. Rora had none of her previous enthusiasm now that she knew how inedible their breakfast really was. They sat down with the other groups minus Dragonfire, who still insisted on sitting apart. No one, not even Talon, took part in the mumbled conversation. They couldn’t be bothered to make an effort. Luke just mechanically ate his porridge.

“Looks like The Rebellion didn’t sleep well last night,” Cassie, the commander of Chaos, teased.

“Mm,” Talon grunted. He didn’t seem capable of forming words. He didn’t even touch his porridge. He hadn’t yesterday, either.

Training came and went. The only slightly remarkable thing that happened was Talon disobeying their teacher’s orders and helping Rora out with fencing. She doesn’t need to learn, she’s a mage, Luke knew. Nevertheless, Talon helped her. Magic, which always seemed to take forever, passed in a blissful blur. Sadly, the same couldn’t be said for Tactical Strategies. No, that would be asking too much.

“You surprise me, Luke,” Mr. Cloak was saying. “I thought at least you would put some effort in. I expected this behavior from Rora, but not you.”

He then proceeded to read everyone’s answer to the question “where is the best place to camp in the mountains when being pursued by the enemy,” aloud. Rora’s was the shortest because she hadn’t even marked up the paper. She had simply folded it up and slid it in the pages her unopened Tactical Strategies book.

Luke’s was next. His answer was a wordy explanation listing the reasons he didn’t know how to answer this question. It could hardly be considered a paragraph, let alone an essay. Shorlorn at least made an attempt. It was a sad attempt that attempted to explain how he would find a cave and use that for shelter.

Talon’s put all of theirs to shame. His was several effortless pages long explaining his first, second, and third choices for shelter and what he would do if the enemy found him in each place. He also explained how he would hunt for food and melt snow for water. Luke looked at Talon. He seemed bored and unchallenged. Luke could see why Rora got so angry with him. He wanted to take Rora’s largest book and slam it over Talon’s head. Instead, Luke settled for clenching his fists until his nails dug into his hands.

Lunch rendered everyone excited about the upcoming battles. There was talk of who would fight who and who would clearly be the winner. The Rebellion was more present in this conversation than breakfast, but still not up to their usual talkativeness.

“I don’t care who we face or how the field looks,” Talon said. “We’re going to demolish anyone who dares oppose us.”

“Yeah, right!” Cassie said. “We had a day off to relax, so we’ll cream you!”

“Some day off,” Chaos’s archer muttered. “We had so many assignments that all we did was stare at paper and scribble down answers!”

“What’s with Tactical Strategies?” Bennett asked. “I’m honestly trying but he doesn’t seem to care!”

“Man, that class is impossible,” said a mage named Chris. “Only the commanders will ever succeed, so stop trying.”

“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “It’s not worth fussing over. You’ll get it wrong no matter what. The commanders have a sixth sense for knowing the answers without trying.”

“Hey!” Cassie said. “We have to try, too! Just because we get it right doesn’t mean that we don’t try.”

“Maybe you try, but Talon doesn’t,” Shorlorn muttered.

“It’s not even funny,” Rora complained. “He just sits down without any thought any writes several pages of perfection without struggle.”

“Aw,” Talon said. “Did you just call me perfect?”

By now, Rora was used to Talon’s jokes. “Like your ego needs boosting,” she commented.

When they finished lunch, everyone went back to their rooms to drop off their books and assignments and put on their battle uniform. Luke shifted uncomfortably in his. It fit loosely to allow movement, but Luke felt like it was suffocating him. It must be the magic, he supposed.

They walked to the Battle Room together, not talking. It must have been the intense look on Talon’s face. It seemed like it would shatter the moment a word was spoken. They made it to the Battle Room directly after Dragonfire stepped in. They wouldn’t be fighting them again, Luke knew. They would never have to fight the same team twice in a row.

Once everyone was inside, the man in the black cloak said, “Dragonfire and Chaos, on the field. You will be battling first.”

While Dragonfire and Chaos battled, The Rebellion and Icefire joked around in the Student’s Lookout. No one seemed interested in watching the battle except for Talon. What confused Luke was that Talon was trying to hide his interest in the window that looked over the battlefield. He was doing a good job of it, too.

“Why don’t you just look out the window?” Luke asked Talon in a hushed voice. Talon started when Luke caught him peeking again.

“I don’t want Icefire to think I’m being too competitive,” Talon whispered back. “I don’t want to make any more enemies.”

“I guess I understand,” Luke said. “Wait, didn’t you say that Dragonfire would get over it?”

“I’m pretty sure that the majority of Dragonfire is over it,” Talon admitted. “It’s Alex who couldn’t handle being beaten.”

“That’s true,” Rora agreed, joining the conversation. “It seems like you hurt his ego. I wonder how you would react if you were defeated?”

“You’re going to find out,” Derrick said. “Icefire is going to destroy you guys!”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Talon said. “We’re never going to lose.”

“Don’t you think your being a little bit overconfident?” Rora asked skeptically.

“Nope,” Talon said. He relaxed back into one of the old velvet chairs that furnished the room. “With the teams as they are now, I’m sure we can win. Don’t worry, Rora. You can’t lose with me as a commander.” Talon gave Rora one of his trademark winks. Rora stuck out her tongue in return.

“You’re not going to scare me like that, Talon,” Derrick said, glaring mockingly.

“I’m not trying to scare you,” Talon said. “I’m simply stating the facts.”

Inside the Student’s Lookout, they heard, “Congratulations, Dragonfire!”

“Looks like we’re up,” Luke said. “May the best team win.”

“Don’t worry, we will,” Derrick finalized.

Once they were out on the battlefield, Luke took a good look at his surroundings. The crates were stacked two high in random places. They were close enough to obscure vision but not hinder movement.

“Okay, I’ve got a plan. Rora, you go climb on the boxes. They will send their archer to shoot arrows at you. I’ve observed that they are very defensive, so they won’t send anyone up to get you. As they archer shoots at you, stop them with your magic. When you have four, send them back at them. The rest of us will occupy the others, got it?” Talon asked.

Luke nodded. The plan was straightforward enough. It relied heavily on Rora, but the last one had relied on him. Luke didn’t read too much into it. He drew a knife in preparation for the battle, and waited for the bell to ring.

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Chapter Twelve
Shorlorn

The bell rang, sounding distant to Shorlorn. He was mentally preparing himself for this battle, but he didn’t have much time. He decided he would just rely on instincts, and rushed Icefire’s protector. Her name was Alta, Shorlorn remembered. She looked prepared and deadly to Shorlorn’s eye, but he didn’t worry. He drew his broad sword and swung it in a direct attack that Alta blocked easily. He continued to send easy attacks her way while blocking her more difficult advances.

He could tell that Alta knew he was stalling, and she was beginning to get fed up with it. Frustrated, she looked around to see what was going on. Shorlorn looked too, and saw that Rora had three arrows, and the archer was preparing to fire a fourth. Shorlorn resisted the urge to laugh. The archer was condemning his own team. He made a quick stab at Alta, and she lost her balance, falling on the ground, Shorlorn knelt down next to her as if ready to defeat her. He felt the air of an arrow moving at a high speed blow through his hair and hit Alta in the chest.

Alta’s clothing froze, but her face did not. It went from defeated to confused to absolute outrage, and then she felt defeated again. By the time it had made a full circle, her clothing was unfrozen and the Rebellion was declared the winner. The Rebellion and Icefire circled up on the battlefield to talk.

Derrick huffed and pouted, but was not a sore loser. “Okay, you win, Talon,” he said, and then shook Talon’s hand. “Rora’s an incredible mage, you know? You don’t get all the credit.”

“Yeah, well, we all played a part. Rora’s was the biggest, but it wouldn’t have worked without everyone else.”

“Even your archer played a role in our victory,” Shorlorn added, patting the ashamed archer on the shoulder.

“But none of this excuses the fact that it was mostly my doing!” Rora exclaimed, not enjoying having other people take credit for what she did.

“Of course,” Talon said, ruffling her white hair. “You get the credit for this win.”

“Yeah, Rora,” Luke said standing off to the side. “You did a great job.”

Shorlorn smiled. “It was a good battle, but let’s not be late for dinner.”

A chorus of agreement followed and they walked out together. Shorlorn couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. They had won again. And with Talon to lead them, he imagined that there would be many more victories to come.

Shorlorn stayed quiet through dinner. He was listening to everyone talk, but he was also watching Talon. He was very good at hiding his emotions, but his lips kept twitching into a frown. Eventually, while the other teams attempted to break down Talon’s strategies, Shorlorn nudged Talon.

“Yeah?” Talon asked, setting his fork down on his picked over plate. There was a pile of a green vegetable pushed onto the edge.

“Are you okay? You keep frowning,” Shorlorn explained.

Talon sighed. “I guess I just don’t get why the other teams are so readily accepted Battle Camp for its face value.”

“Well, the other teams don’t have a commander as brilliant as you to lead them.” Shorlorn regretted voicing his thoughts the moment he did. He wasn’t the only one who boosted Talon’s ego on a regular basis. Everyone seemed to compliment him without thinking about the repercussions.

“Thanks, Shor. I’m glad you think I’m brilliant.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now, are you going to eat that or not?” Shorlorn asked, pointing to Talon’s leftovers.

“That stuff? It’s green. Of course I’m not going to eat it.”

Shorlorn shrugged and stole Talon’s plate. “Whatever you say,” he said before digging in.

After dinner the Rebellion began the noble task of completing the assignments they were given in Magic and Tactical Strategies.

“Man, if I ran this place, I would make the mages take Magic and the commanders take Tactical Strategies and the rest of us could just stay in the Training Room all day,” Shorlorn complained.

Luke agreed, but Talon and Rora protested. “It is important for everyone to learn about magic, though!” Rora told them.

“Yeah, and you guys seriously need to work on your strategy,” Talon chimed in. “Besides, I need to train, too.”

“I guess, but this Tactical Strategies assignment is impossible,” Luke said, throwing the paper on the ground. “I can’t tell where on this map the enemy would camp. How am I supposed know what they’re thinking?”

“You have to think like the enemy,” Talon explained, showing them his marked up map.

Shorlorn looked at his own map and tried to do what Talon said. He was trying, but all he saw was a piece of paper with lines and words on it. How was that supposed to tell him where a good place to camp was? Eventually he decided that it would be best if he just chose a random spot and started working on magic. Shorlorn put an X the whole mountain range not bothering to specify and pulled out his Magical Theory book.

“Um, Rora?” Shorlorn asked. “Did you do this to my book?” Shorlorn flipped through the pages of the magic book and saw that nearly every page had some sort of reminder or underline on it.

“Yeah, I did it to everyone’s,” Rora said while absentmindedly conjuring an image of herself and jotting a few notes down. “I was tired of you guys asking me every five minutes for something that was in front of you noses.”

Shorlorn got up and pulled Rora into a hug. “Rora, you are the most amazing, nice, and wonderful person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting in an underground training facility with no memories. Thank you.”

“Okay?” Rora said, sounding unsure.

“I mean it,” Shorlorn said, letting her go. “I have never tried to escape from somewhere with someone as thoughtful as you.”

“That you remember,” Talon corrected, staring intently at his magic book. “Rora, I still don’t get—”

“Figure it out yourself, I’m not helping anymore.”

When everyone was just about ready for bed, Talon called a meeting in his section of the room. Once everyone was seated and looking at him with frustration, he said, “What? I figured it would be better to talk now rather than in the middle of the night.”

“How about we don’t talk at all?” Rora suggested with a false polite tone. “No one wants to spy on our possibly evil teachers when they could be sleeping.”

“Except me,” Talon reminded her. “Which is why I’m going tonight. Any questions?”

“Yes,” Luke said, raising his hand. Shorlorn snickered, and he put it back down, turning red. “I just wanted to know if you were going to wake us back up to report your findings.”

“Yes, I will.” This was met with a collective groan. “Don’t you three want to get out of here?” Talon asked. Shorlorn nodded hesitantly along with Luke and Rora. “Well, we can’t do that until we find the exit. And to find they exit, we have to spy on the people who know the most. This means spying on Mr. Black Cloak until he mentions something.”

“Or until we get caught,” Shorlorn muttered.

Unfortunately, Talon heard him. “We are not going to get caught if we’re careful.” Talon proceeded to launch into a thirty minute speech about ways to avoid guards in the hallway and how to know is someone was going to leave the room. Shorlorn felt as if he were back in Tactical Strategies again.

It was Rora who finally interrupted him. “All right, Talon. We get it,” she said without her usual gusto. She was as tired as the rest of the room, excluding Talon. “Now, can you leave? Cloak Man is probably in bed right now. I know that’s where I want to be.”

Talon seemed to become aware of the late hour and dismissed each of them to their sections. Shorlorn reminded himself to hug Rora again in the morning. If she hadn’t intervened, Shorlorn doubted that any of them would have gotten to sleep.

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Wow, look! Two chapters! Sorry again. My phone isn't letting me know when people post to my wall anymore, so I forget even though you remember to remind me.

Happy 4th of July, everyone in America! Everyone outside of America, I sincerely apologize for us Americans.

X's and O's,
Lady

 

Wooow. It's been a while. Sorry bout that.

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Chapter Thirteen

Talon

Talon didn’t dare tell his team, but he was nervous. Perhaps that was why he had ranted so long about being careful and not getting caught. Talon tried to think too much of it, but he suspected that he was losing his nerve. Rora did it, Talon reminded himself. I can do it if she did it. Talon took a deep breath and exited the safety of his room. He traveled down the tunnel-like hallway in a light jog. He slowed down before rounding any corners so that he could listen for guards. After the first few close encounters, if they could even be called that, Talon had memorized the patters the guards followed. Slowing down was no longer necessary.

Talon slipped unnoticed into the dining room and slowed down to a walk. His mind traveled to his go to thought, the girl, Annabel, but he pushed her away. He needed to focus, now. He hadn’t been able to remember anything more, so he shouldn’t bother trying. There were more important things going on than forgotten girl. Talon found the door’s fine outline with ease, but the same could not be said for opening it. His hands were sweating, and it took him what seemed like close to ten times to pry the door open.

He was finally in the hall. He followed Rora’s directions to the room that she had overhead Mr. Cloak and Ma’am talking in. The third door on the right. He put his ear to the door and, sure enough, he heard voices.

“…wonder what he’s doing?” this was Ma’am speaking.

“I know. First Luke saves the day, and now Rora? I’m sensing a pattern.” Talon had to resist the urge to say, “Duh.” Obvious statement or not, Rora was right; it was the man in the black cloak.

“That seems to be it, Shadow.”

So that was his name! Thrilled with this discovery, Talon left his spot by the door to tell the rest of the Rebellion. Thinking better of it, he decided to listen in just in case there were more revelations.

Because he had left, he only caught the tail end of Shadow’s reply, “…bet it will be Shorlorn. I wonder what Talon will have him do. Charge out and fight everyone at once?”

“Very funny,” the Training teacher said, but she said it in a way that suggested it was not.

Shadow coughed. “Well, I’m sure in actuality it will be more logical than that. I mean, the boy is a tactical master. Not to mention the only…” But Talon had already left, no longer able to wait to tell his roommates what he had heard.

On his way back to his room, he reviewed what Shadow had said, and a plan for tomorrow’s battle began forming in his head. Of course, he would have to take the crate arrangement into consideration, but the basic idea should stay the same. Yes, Talon concluded. Tomorrow’s battle would be one to remember.

He was so involved in his thoughts that he forgot to count the seconds before rounding the bend and nearly came face-to-face with two conversing guards. Had they been more attentive, he would have been caught. Relieved, Talon continued on to his room with a more circumspect attitude toward the guards.

“Guys, wake up!” Talon said the moment he entered the room. He was no longer able to contain his excitement.

“What did you hear?” Shorlorn asked, pulling himself off of the floor of Talon’s section.

Talon smiled realizing they must have planned on staying awake until he came back, but had instead succumbed to the sweet seduction of sleep. “His name is Shadow,” Talon relayed first. “So that means no more confusing nicknames.” Talon stepped into his section and frowned. “Is it warmer in here than the hall?”

“That’s Rora,” Luke said. “She heats up the room when she sleeps.”

Rora rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and began her part in the conversation with derision. “Really, Shadow? Don’t be ridiculous, Talon. That’s not even a name.”

“Well, it’s his code name at least,” Talon insisted, ignoring her mocking tone. He joined his team on the floor and leaned against his wooden bed frame.

Luke started to raise his hand, but covered up by pretending to smooth down his sleep-mussed hair. Talon, the only one who caught the slip up, grinned at him. Luke smiled and shrugged. “So, uh, what else did you hear?”

“Well, he’s figured out my battle strategy,” Talon admitted.

“He has?” Shorlorn asked. The question was coupled with a worried look on his face. “Wait a minute, what is your battle strategy?”

“I’m showing the other teams what we can do.” This explanation was met with blank stares. “You know, in the first battle Luke defeated the whole other team with his knives, and in this last one, Rora beat them with her magic. Next time, it’ll be you, Shor, with your strength.” Shorlorn looked like he was about to argue, so Talon added. “You all look exhausted. How about we get to sleep and discuss the battle strategy in the morning?”

All arguments died in the arguers’ throats. No one wanted to stay up any later than they had to when they knew they could be woken up by Talon during any hour of the night. Even Talon had no trouble falling asleep, but it didn’t last as long as he wanted it to. He was woken up partly because of the freezing air (apparently Rora’s magical heating system disappeared when Rora did) and partly because of his disturbing dream.

In the dream Annabel, still as hazy as ever, had been demanding that he remember her. Talon shook off the odd feeling the dream left him with and sat up. His eyes went immediately to the stack of papers that someone had slid under the door at some time during the night. Talon stretched lazily and padded across the cold flood to pick them up.

In the midst of everything, Talon had forgotten that today was the Rebellion’s day off. He picked up the bulky pile of assignments they were required to complete and grinned. They definitely wanted to keep the Rebellion busy. Well, too bad, Talon thought. The Rebellion was going to own these assignments like they were a new pair of boots and have free time to investigate.

Talon got dressed and woke everyone up by dropping their assignments on their sleeping bodies. Rora was the only one who retaliated. She leapt out of bed and Talon barely managed to maneuver out of the way to avoid hands that were intent on choking him.

“Everyone, get to my section in five minutes,” Talon called darting into the decided meeting area to avoid any more near death experiences.

Despite all parties involved lacking an acceptable amount of sleep, everyone made it to Talon’s section more or less on time.

“What’s this all about, Talon?” Luke asked. “I believe in hard work, and all, but this is getting to be too much.”

“Tell that to Shadow,” Talon said, waving the file filled with his assignments in the air. “He’s the one who doesn’t want us to have any free time. That’s why we’re going to start now so that we can finish and have time to work on the Rebellion’s real mission. Now, let’s start with our Tactical Strategies assignment.” Talon reached into his folder and pulled out the assignment. He read it aloud. “What would you do if you and three other people were cornered by eight people in the back of a cave?” Talon searched the faces of his teammates for someone who knew the answer. He found none. “Rora?” he asked, desperate for something.

“I would… retreat?”

“Uh, no, you’re cornered,” Luke reminded her.

“Oh,” she said, examining her hands with formulated interest.

“Luke, what would you do?” Talon asked.

“I would tell my partners to try and escape while I fought the enemy,” Luke said, sounding more sure than he looked.

Talon looked at Luke to make sure he wasn’t joking. When he realized he wasn’t, he simply said, “No. Shorlorn?”

“Stay and fight,” he said simply.

Talon released a sigh of relief. Finally. “Yes, that’s what you would do, but how are you going to write three pages on those three words?” Talon asked. Shorlorn answered with an indifferent shrug. “You’re not going to be able to. Now, write your essay, but don’t think of what you would do. Think—”

“Of what the enemy would do!” Rora burst out, remembering the phrase from yesterday.

Talon shook his head slowly. “Um, no. Think of what I would do.”

His team followed this piece of advice to the letter. In the brief pockets of time between helping his team, Talon wrote his essay. Overall, it probably took him fifteen minutes, while it took the rest of his team until the bell rang for breakfast. The Rebellion trudged to breakfast, tired but satisfied with their Tactical Strategies essays.

“You guys have a day off? Man, tough luck,” Cassie, the commander of Chaos, said. “On our day off, we had so many assignments that I didn’t have time to plan for the battle.”

“Oh, I think we’ll be okay,” Luke said. “Talon made us get up an hour early to get a head start.”

Talon grinned. “It’s true,” he admitted without shame. “You’ll thank me later when we have time to, ahem, relax.” Talon watched as his team fall for it, thinking they were actually going to relax, and then one by one they realized that relax was code for the Rebellion’s true mission.

Shorlorn met everyone’s eyes at the table before saying, “Guys, appreciate your commanders. Remember, you could always have Talon.”

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Chapter Fourteen

Rora

Talon did not comprehend his magic assignment. That much Rora knew for sure. What she didn’t know was how to help him.

“No! No, no, no!” Rora yelled, losing her patience. “You did the same thing last time. You move your hands like this!”

“I did do that!” Talon exclaimed.

Rora could tell that he was seconds away from blowing up, but she didn’t care. She was already past that point. “No, you did this!” She demonstrated Talon’s sloppy work.

Rora was trying to teach Talon to blind someone momentarily with a flash of light. According to their teacher, this spell “could change the direction of a battle,” but Talon’s battle wasn’t ever going to change if he kept moving his hands like that.

“Calm down, you guys,” Luke said. “Talon, you’re pretty much proving the point of my essay on how hand motions can affect a spell, so listen to Rora. Both of you need to learn the virtue of patience, jeez.” There was a pause as everyone soaked in the calming words. Then, Luke added, “Plus, you’re kind of hogging Rora, and I need her help.”

“Okay, Luke. I’ll help you now,” Rora said, feeling bad. “Sorry, Talon.”

Talon nodded, held up a finger, and conjured an apology in the air. Rora grinned and shook her head. His conjuring was as bad as ever, but Rora appreciated the sentiment. Rora explained the underlined section to Luke, but before she could quite finish, she was blinded shortly by a flash of bright light.

“I did it!” Talon cried with a face the picture of pure happiness. Everyone was blinded again. And again.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Rora said blinking white spots away. “I think you’ve got it down.”

“Yeah, there’s a tiny possibility,” Shorlorn agreed. Everyone chuckled a little, and whatever tension remained slipped away.

With Rora’s constant supervision, Luke and Shorlorn managed to finish their Magic assignment with two hours to spare before lunch.

And then the real work began.

The moment Rora stretched out on her bed to relax was the moment Talon chose to ask, “All right, so what do we know so far?”

Everyone groaned, but Rora found that she was particularly agitated. Couldn’t Talon see that they were tired? Maybe he could function without sleep, but Rora couldn’t. She decided to give him a piece of her mind.

“Talon, we don’t care about the Rebellion right now!” Rora told him. “We’re not superhuman. We’re tired. Can you just let us sleep until lunch?”

Talon looked surprised. “Are you guys really all that tired?”

“Yes,” Shorlorn emphasized.

Talon nodded, still having a shocked look on his face. “Okay,” he said.

“What?” Rora asked. Did he just agree?

“I’ll just review the battle plan with you, and then you can get some sleep.” When no one protested, Talon continued. “Today is Shorlorn’s turn to shine, and I’m expecting him to do all of the work. Okay, Shor? I want you to charge out and fight everyone at once.” Talon’s encouraging smile grew to be a smug smirk. What was he up to, now?

Shorlorn scratched his head. “Are you sure I can go four on one?”

“Yeah,” Talon said with a shrug. “I’m positive. Otherwise, I wouldn’t put you up to the task.”

Talon turned his face away so that Shorlorn couldn’t see it. While his words were confident, his face told another story. The story said that if Shorlorn wasn’t ready, this would blow up in our faces.
Despite this revelation, everyone, including Talon, managed to fall asleep. Unfortunately, no one woke up before the bell rang for lunch, and they all had to race down to the dining room without a chance to wipe the sleep from their eyes.

The moment they entered the dining room, Rora observed that it would be an interesting lunch. Patrick, the protector from Alex’s team, had joined the group of tables in the middle.

“Hey, guys,” Patrick said when the Rebellion took their place at the table. “Alex is being stupid, and I’m disobeying his stupid orders by sitting here.” Patrick was tall and well-built for his age. He carried a long sword, and from their first battle, Rora knew that he was very skilled with it. He gave Shorlorn a run for his money. “He’s still mad at Talon for destroying our team in that first battle.”

“I thought he’d be over it by now. He did cream Cassie’s team. No offense,” Talon added with an apologetic glance in Cassie’s direction.

Cassie shrugged. “None taken. Alex taught us how it feels to be defeated. A lesson I look forward to teaching you, Talon.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but Shorlorn isn’t going to let that happen. Are you, Shor?”

Shorlorn just smiled. Apparently Talon’s encouragement boosted his confidence. Confused, Cassie simply rolled her eyes and turned back to her meal.

Rora was nervous when the time for the battle came around. Maybe she had just imagined Talon’s worried look. Only, she knew that she hadn’t. Thankfully, the Rebellion wasn’t going first.

“Icefire, Dragonfire, get on the battlefield,” Shadow said, his tone sounding almost bored.

Both teams set off at a jog onto the battlefield, covered in crates places so that you would have ample room to move, but they would hamper your ability to see the other team. Rora didn’t have much time to chew her nails in anticipation (not to mention pound on the mind block a bit) before Dragonfire was declared victorious again.

The Rebellion and Chaos bounded down the stairs, and Rora saw that she was quite possibly the only one not shaking with excitement.

Once they got on their side, Talon said, “Shorlorn, go as soon as the bell rings. We’ll be right behind you to help if you think you’re in trouble.”

Shorlorn nodded, and took off the moment the bell rang. From where they were standing, you could hear the clanging of swords, but that was all. Rora looked to Talon to suggest they follow Shorlorn. Talon was doing the strangest thing; he was staring at the Teacher’s Lookout as if he were expecting a reaction from Shadow. Perhaps he was. Rora had gotten the feeling that Talon hadn’t told them everything Shadow had said last night. She could barely make out through the wobbly glass that Shadow was laughing.

Talon, seeming reassured by seeing this, motioned for the Rebellion to creep forward and follow Shorlorn. It was apparent that Shorlorn was losing, but Cassie and her protector were lying paralyzed on the floor with frustrated looks on their faces. Shorlorn was trying to avoid the archer’s arrows while being weakened by the mages spell. Without waiting for an order, Rora took out the occupied mage with a vicious spell. Luke paralyzed the archer’s arm, and Talon finished him off.

“Congratulation’s, the Rebellion,” Ma’am said with a rather dubious look on her face. Shadow’s face, on the other hand was perfectly placid. “Let’s go back to the dining room and eat.”

“Man! I wish I could have been the first one to beat you, Talon,” Cassie complained over dinner.

“But that was wicked sending Shorlorn out by himself like that. Can he fight, or what?” Rora observed Cassie carefully. She was tall for her age which immediately inspired distrust because Rora was short.

“That was the idea,” Talon said, a smug grin that had persisted to take over his face since even before our victory.

Rora barely registered this. She was still observing Cassie. She had chin length blonde hair and an oval face that looked much too girly for a fighter to have. Her eyes were blue and earnest. Rora decided there was no need for doubt.

“Rora, your hair is in your gravy, “Luke said.

“Thanks, Luke,” Rora said absently. She pulled a long white strand of hair out of her mashed potatoes and sucked the gravy off of it, still staring at Cassie.

Her mind wandered to Talon, and she glanced up at him. His light brown hair had potato in it. Cassie was laughing at him. He was trying to be mad but ended up laughing until his amber eyes watered.

On their way back to the room, Rora saw that Luke and especially Shorlorn were practically asleep on their feet. Grudgingly, she said. “Can I investigate again?”

“Sure,” Talon agreed, a little surprised. “I don’t see why not.”

After everyone was settled in bed, and more likely than not, asleep, Rora stood up and exited their room. Before the door shut behind her, she heard a quiet, “Good luck.”

Although she couldn’t see who said it, the voice was unmistakable.

“Thanks, Talon.”

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So, there you have it! Two more chapters. Just wondering... Does anyone ship any of my characters? I'm just curious as to what you think about the story so far. Also, did anyone read the first (terrible, terrible) version? If you haven't, DO NOT GO LOOKING FOR IT PLEASE. It is awful, but I am still fond of it because it was some of the first stuff I managed to write.

 

OH!

And I've figured out a better way for you guys to remind me to post! If any of you have a tumblr, mine is ktlemonhead.tumblr.com. Send me asks. Send me many asks. Send me vicious asks. And that way I will remember to update because I am always on tumblr.

Thanks so much for all the support!

X's and O's,
Lady

 

I'll just... leave this here.

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Chapter Fifteen
Luke
Luke heard Rora leave the room and prayed that she would succeed without capture. She had to. He had done the same with her the first time, and then Talon. Why she volunteered to go again, Luke couldn’t be sure. She didn’t seem very keen on staying up later than she had to. While he waited restlessly until Rora returned, he wondered what it would be like when it was finally his turn. Maybe the hallway would be dark and creepy, smelling of dust and rotten flesh. Maybe he would see Shadow with a knife ready to jump out at him. Maybe—
“Wake up you guys!” Rora shouted. Okay, I just might have dozed off a bit, but the darkness and the musky smell are both highly probably, Luke admitted. “Guess what?” Rora asked, bursting into his section. She grabbed his arm and pulled him into Talon’s section. Talon looked fairly exhausted. Served him right for getting them up all those times in the middle of the night, Luke thought. At least Rora had been quick about it.
“What?” Luke responded, rubbing his eyes.
“They said that Talon was the most talented person that had ever gone to this school.” Rora was so excited that she didn’t seem to care that she was stroking Talon’s ego.
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Talon yawned and slid onto the floor.
“Self centered jerk,” Shorlorn teased.
“What? Where?” asked Talon, looking over his shoulder.
The act was actually convincing and sent them all into fits of laughter.
“Well, I can tell you something that you don’t know,” Rora said. “This is a school.”
“Yeah, you said that,” Luke reminded her.
Rora sighed. “A learning facility,” she emphasized.
“That means they aren’t going to kill us, right?” Talon asked. His eyes were wide with innocence.
There was silence for a while until no one could contain themselves. The Rebellion was sent into giggles again. “Well,” Rora said on a more serious note. “They said Talon was the most talented person that had ever gone to this school, so people have gone here before us.”
“Anything else?” Shorlorn asked, slouching and holding his stomach from laughing so hard.
“Um… Oh, yeah! I almost forgot with all the distractions—Talon—” she said accusingly. Everyone cracked up again. “Anyways, they said that Talon’s performance in the most recent battle was amazing and almost suicidal. Then they raved on about strategy and whatnot for a while, and I decided to leave. I mean, they way they talk about you, Talon; it’s like you were a god.”
“Hmm?” Talon asked.
“Unbelievable,” Rora muttered. “I said it’s like you were a god.”
“Come again?” Talon cupped his ear.
“It’s like you were a god!” she said louder, gritting her teeth in irritation.
“What?”
“YOU ARE A GOD!” Rora shouted.
“Just making sure everyone heard,” he said, smirking.
“Yeah, I just might have.” Luke grinned.
“Let’s get some rest, I’ve been sleep deprived these last few days,” Shorlorn suggested.
They all agreed and slipped into their beds.
“Talon,” Rora accused once again. They all laughed quietly, and on that happy note they all fell asleep.

Luke was well rested that morning, but it was possibly the one day he could have slept through each of his classes. All they did was discuss old assignments and receive new ones. Lunch flew by and soon enough it was time for another battle. Luke wondered what brilliant plan Talon had cooked up this time. The Rebellion was facing Dragonfire for the second time, and you could tell that Alex had been looking forward to this. Luke knew that Talon wasn’t going to let him win, though.
They jogged onto the battlefield, and Talon began discussing his strategy.
“Okay, I’ll go out and fight them and you guys stand and enjoy the show,” he said. “The crates are blocking out the middle of the room in a diamond formation, so I’ll go around to the right. If they come around the other way, just tell them where I went and they’ll leave you alone. Alex is still so upset that I beat him, so he’ll come after me. Got it?”
It took a few seconds for it to sink in.
“Are you insane?” Rora yelled, loud enough for anyone in the room to hear. “Did all of those compliments go to your head?”
“Yeah,” Talon admitted. “But that’s beside the point. You all have shown everyone what you can do, I think it’s my turn.” To Luke, the most disturbing thing was how calm Talon seemed. Did he not realize that he was about to be destroyed by Dragonfire. “And, Shorlorn did basically the same thing.”
“Yeah, but I had you guys to back me up,” Shorlorn reminded him. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it all by myself.”
Before another argument could be made, the bell rang. Talon ran off with confidence around the diamond. Luke held his breath and counted to ten. When victory was not called out, Luke decided that Talon was defeated.
Then, Alex’s group rounded the bend, swords drawn. Luke decided that if they’d had a run in with Talon, they wouldn’t all be left standing.
Since no one else was talking, Luke said, “Talon went that way.”
Alex jogged off without another word, but his team followed reluctantly. Patrick even stopped to grin and roll his eyes. “We’re going to get creamed, aren’t we?” he asked.
“All I know is that Talon’s lost his mind,” Rora said.
Patrick shrugged and jogged off after his disappearing team. The clashing of swords was heard, and then nothing for the longest time. Finally, Shadow called out, his voice shocked, “Congratulations… The Rebellion.”
Rora’s face showed furious surprise. “He did not.”
“I did, too! You didn’t doubt me, did you?” Talon called, appearing from around the corner, his smile transforming into a smirk at Rora’s expression.
Luke had to hand it to him, he was good. “The odds weren’t exactly in your favor,” he remarked.
“Just great!” Rora ranted. “Now, you’re going to have an even bigger head.”
“My head is big?” Talon asked?
“Huge,” Shorlorn confirmed.
The Rebellion laughed and watched the next battle. Icefire tried a new tactic of divide and conquer which gave them the victory.
At dinner, Talon explained it. “Honestly,” he said. “I got lucky.”
“I’m surprised you can bring yourself to admit that, Talon,” Luke said, sincerely.
“Yeah, well, it’s the truth. I took out the mage first because I couldn’t have her draining my strength and confusing me. Then,” Talon stopped to chuckle. “Patrick—” Talon stopped again, unable to hold in his laughter.
“Aw, come on! It was an accident!” Patrick shouted, turning red.
Talon regained his composure. “Patrick lunged at me, but I dodged. His sword struck Alex in the middle of his chest! They rest was a piece of cake.”
“I imagine that I’ll be hearing from Alex tonight. I’d better sleep with one eye open,” Patrick muttered, not seeming like he was joking.
“Aw, don’t worry,” Talon said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “You can take him. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to defeat him myself. He might still think he has chance against the Rebellion.”
“Nah,” Shorlorn said, mimicking Talon’s position. “I think he’s learned his lesson.”
“On a more important note, Rora, I believe you called me a god this morning? Am I correct?”
“That’s only because—” Rora stopped when Luke sent her a warning look. They couldn’t talk about their “mission” here. Rora recovered smoothly. “That’s only because you tricked me.”
“True,” Talon admitted, his body tensed because their secret had nearly been revealed. He seemed to force his body to relax, but his smile was tight.
After dinner, the Rebellion walked back to their room. They were silent. Luke was worn out from the long day, but it was his turn to investigate. He rolled into bed with his shoes on to wait for the other teams to fall asleep. Everyone else seemed to do the same, except Rora, who rarely wore shoes.
“Talon,” Rora accused once more. No more was needed to be said.
The score was settled.
 
Chapter Sixteen
Shorlorn
All of the past nights Shorlorn had been annoyed by how much Luke moved around when he slept, but now he found he couldn’t sleep without it. He couldn’t wait until Luke got back. Quite some time passed before Luke opened and shut their door, breathing heavily.
Shorlorn rolled out of bed and joined the others in Talon’s section as was per usual. “What’d you find out,” he asked the moment he saw Luke’s face. He looked extremely uneasy.
“Nothing and everything,” he said, shifting from foot to foot. “Look, I was careful getting down there, but when I did, the girl was already leaving. I had just enough time to run down the hall and shut that door—impossible to find, by the way—but it closed with a bang. I hid under the tables, and they both ran off looking for me. I was super watchful on the way back.”
“You said nothing and everything,” Rora reminded him, scowling. “I just heard nothing.”
“Rora, it could have happened to any of us,” Shorlorn defended. “It’s not his fault. But, you did say everything.”
“Well, they know someone’s watching them now, so we have to be extra careful about our investigations,” Luke explained.
Then Talon spoke up, and Shorlorn could tell that Luke was preparing to be yelled at. Surprisingly, Talon just said, “Okay, Luke. Next time, don’t almost get caught.”
“Umm, great advice?” Luke said, taken aback.
“I know, I’m full of that. I’m beginning to see what you guys mean about being woken up.” Talon climbed into bed and seemed to fall asleep immediately, leaving his team sitting in his section unsure of what to do. Eventually, they decided to follow Talon’s example and headed back into their own section. Shorlorn fell asleep to the restless sound of Luke tossing and turning.

In the morning the Rebellion woke to the sound of Shadow’s echoing voice announcing that there would be no classes today. Before they were awake enough to be thrilled, Shadow added that instead of classes he would be swiping everyone’s brain for the culprit that had invaded his privacy the night before.
“I will call each group out by their battle names, and you will walk down to the dining room and wait your turn.”
This revelation, unsurprisingly, left them in a dismal mood. “Not only will he discover Luke’s roll in last night’s incident, he’ll find out what the Rebellion really is. And that Rora broke down the wall. This is going to be a disaster.” Talon shook his head, an anguished look on his face.
“Yeah,” Luke muttered. “I’m going to die!”
“We all are. We investigated, too.” Talon didn’t seem pleased with this dying thing.
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I haven’t investigated yet. Maybe he’ll spare me,” Shorlorn said.
Everyone stared at Shorlorn. “No,” Talon said. “That does not make me feel any better.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Rora said. “We’ll be fine. I’ve already disguised everything about the Rebellion, as well as all of my old memories, to look like the wall he created.”
“How does that help us?” Luke asked, still very upset.
“I can do the same for you,” Rora said. “Duh.”
The room filled with silence and understanding.
“No way!” said Luke.
“Nope,” Shorlorn agreed.
“I am not having you in my head!” Talon shouted.
“It’s either that, or die!” Rora said, dramatically.
Talon squinted in concentration; he was thinking hard. Shorlorn did the same.
“Are you kidding me?” Rora moaned. “You have to think about it?”
“Fine,” Talon agreed. “Go ahead and create your wall.”
“Just to let you guys know, until I remove the wall, you won’t remember anything. I will, though, because I have the magical capacity to hide select memories from him. Okay?”
“Just get this over with,” Luke groaned.
Rora did as she was told. When she entered Shorlorn’s mind, he could feel her gathering the memories she wanted hidden, and then it seemed as if a blanket was pulled over them, and then he couldn’t remember what he was thinking.
“Okay,” Rora said cheerily. “All done.”
“All done with what?” Talon asked. “Oh, no! Did we have a magic assignment?”
“Now that you mention it….” Rora said, a smile playing on her lips. Rora proceeded to torture them with a magic assignment that she came up with off the top of her head. “Talon, hurry up!” She snapped her fingers. “I need an answer.”
“I don’t know!” Talon said for the third time.
“You don’t even have a guess?”
“No.”
Shorlorn laughed. “She’s just getting back at you, Talon.”
“For what?” Talon wrinkled his forehead.
“You seriously don’t know?” Luke asked. “This is exactly what you do to us with our tactical strategies assignments.”
“Do not!” Talon protested. “I am nowhere near this inconsiderate.”
“You’re right,” Shorlorn said. “You’re way worse.”
“You guys are so funny!” Rora said, laughing. “Now, Shorlorn, what’s your answer?”
“Let it go, Rora! None of us know the answer,” Shorlorn said.
“It’s a yes or no question. Is there such thing as an elixir of life?”
“Rora, what is an elixir of life?” Luke asked, obediently.
“Thank you for asking, Luke,” said Rora, playing the part of teacher to a T. “An elixir of life is a rumored potion made out of the blood of the three High Ones that can bring someone back to life.”
“Well, in that case, I’m going to go with no. It’s not real,” Talon said.
“Wrong.”
“Then, yes. It is real,” Shorlorn answered, sure of himself.
“Nope!” Rora giggled. “Many scholars and mages have noted the use of the elixir of life throughout our history, but no one has been able to get their hands on the blood to be able to prove it.”
“That was a trick question,” Talon groaned, flopping onto his back.
“So is, like, every question in Tactical Strategies,” Rora pointed out. Shorlorn nodded in agreement.
“Are you kidding?” Talon asked, flopping over onto his stomach. “Tactical Strategies is the most straight forward class there is. Just use logic.”
“My logic is telling me that they purposely didn’t give us breakfast because they want to kill us,” Shorlorn said.
“I haven’t even heard them call a team name yet,” Luke complained.
On cue, Shadows voice echoed through Battle Camp. “Icefire, come to the dining room.”
The Rebellion went silent as they waited. It didn’t take long for the next team to be called.
“The Rebellion.”
Shorlorn took a deep breath to steady his nerves that came out of nowhere. Here we go, he thought.
 
Chapter Seventeen
Talon
Talon couldn’t tell why, but he was nervous for this mind swipe. It wasn’t like he’d done something wrong, but he found that his breathing was faster than usual. He shook it off. After all, he hadn’t done anything. Yet, in the depths of his mind, he knew he should worry.
The Rebellion arrived outside the dining room just before Icefire finished. They could hear someone inside the room.
“State your name,” said the man in the black cloak.
“Chris,” someone answered.
“What is your position, Chris?”
“Mage,” he answered.
“What is your army?”
“Icefire.”
“Now, this won’t hurt a bit.” There was a brief pause, where the man presumably swiped Chris’ mind. “Next!”
“It’s not that bad,” Chris said to Shorlorn, the next person in line, as he exited.
“Of course not, why should it be?” Shorlorn replied, but Talon noticed him wiping sweaty palms over his shirt. Shorlorn went in and came out unharmed. Then Luke went, and then it was Talon’s turn.
Talon took a deep breath to steady himself before opening the door to the room. He sat down at a table across from the man in the black cloak.
“What is your name?” the man asked, intently.
“Talon.”
“Position?” he searched Talon’s face as if he expected that he was the culprit.
“Commander.”
“This won’t hurt.” It didn’t hurt, but Talon had a funny feeling that he should be worried. If only he could remember why! After he was done, the man in the black cloak stared at him for a while, and the shouted, “Next!”
Rora entered and exited like the rest of them, but it took her nearly double the time. She seemed smug, the way Talon looked when he won a battle.
“That wasn’t bad at all,” she said.
“Why? Should it have been?” Luke asked.
Rora shrugged, waved her hands and started walking back to their dorm.
“Wow!” Talon exclaimed, his memories rushing back. He jogged to catch up with Rora. “We survived.”
“Thanks to me,” Rora reminded him. Talon nodded his thanks
“I made it!” Luke cheered, skipping.
“Congratulations,” Rora said, amused. “I almost didn’t. He stared at me for the longest time after inspecting my mind and said, ‘I know you have something to do with this.’ It’s a good think my magic is infallible when put to the test, or we’d be toast.”
“We’ll be fine. He doesn’t have proof.” Talon paused for a moment, then added, “Thanks to you.”
Rora curtsied dramatically. “That’s what I’m here for.”
The Rebellion walked back to their room, smothering Rora with congratulations on her success. Well, she deserves it, Talon thought. He didn’t want to think about where they’d be without her.
“I’m starving!” Shorlorn complained. “Where’s lunch?”
“I guess we’re skipping that, like breakfast,” Luke said.
“That’s just mean.” Shorlorn collapsed on his bed, pouting.
“And battles?” Talon asked, eagerly.
“We must be skipping them, too,” Rora commented.
The members of the Rebellion went into their own sections to wait for dinner. Talon collapsed onto his bed, leaning uncomfortably against the rickety wooden frame. He was upset that they were missing battles. He didn’t have a specific plan (he hadn’t yet seen the crate arrangement, after all), but he missed the thrill of beating the other team. He imagined that it would wear off once the other teams realized they couldn’t win and stopped trying, but he wanted to enjoy it while he could. He was just dozing off when Shadow’s companion, the Physical Training teacher’s voice reverberated through the rock hallways.
“Dinner is waiting for you in the dining room. I’m sorry that you missed your other meals.”
The Rebellion walked into the dining room in silence. When they reached the dining room, though, it was anything but that.
“Hah!” Cassie exclaimed, and everyone else groaned and handed her their dinner rolls.
“What’s going on?” Talon asked.
“Everyone else bet that you were the one the man in the black cloak was talking about it. I said that you would have been smart enough not to get caught if it was you. And look! I won!” she said biting into a roll. “So, who do you think it was, Talon?”
“Honestly, I think they’re paranoid,” Talon said, easily slipping into the conversation as he would an old pair of boots. He took his spot and dug into his meal. “I mean,” he added in between bites of food. “We’re all here, aren’t we? So it must have just been a rock falling or something.”
“You don’t think this place will cave in, do you?” Chris asked.
“Nah,” Rora said. “This place is crawling with magic supports just in case.”
Chris used his magic to look at the walls then grinned, sheepishly. “Yeah, I guess so.”
After stuffing themselves with food, the Rebellion happily crawled into bed, none of them even mentioning investigating that night.
“All in all,” Talon said, sleepily. “It was a successful day. Even in there wasn’t a battle.”
“That’s all you can think about, isn’t it?” Rora asked, her voice smothered by her pillow.
“I’m a tactically genius, remember?” Talon smirked in the dark.
“How could we forget?” Shorlorn asked.

Talon woke up slowly, not used to a full night’s sleep. He found himself reluctant to leave his warm bed. He rolled out of bed at the last second. After a monotonous breakfast that he refused to eat, Talon woke up during a sparring match with Shorlorn. After that, he had to watch Luke and Rora spar, which was painful. After Luke won, Rora had to be shown the correct way to hold her sword (again), and then the Training teacher took her through everything she did wrong and what she should do instead.
Then Rora had to fight Luke again. Luke won without contest. Rora looked especially tired today, so Talon decided to catch up with her during archery.
“Okay?” he asked.
“Huh?” Rora responded, her arrow leaping from her bow onto the floor.
“I asked if you were okay. What’s up?”
“Those spells yesterday,” she murmured. “They really drained me.”
Talon smiled at her. She didn’t return it, and instead stared at him with a completely straight face. Talon cleared his throat. “I’m sure you’ll snap back during magic.” Just mentioning it brought a hint of a smile to her face. “Me, on the other hand,” Talon added. “I think that’s when I’ll lose it.”
Rora scoffed, and hit him on the head with her bow.
“Hey!” the teacher said, scolding Rora. “There is no need for fighting amongst your team.”
Rora rolled her eyes, but before she could open her mouth to reply, Talon said, “Nah, there’s every reason. See, I just insulted her favorite class. The last time I did that, she knocked me over the head with a very large book several times.”
The training teacher just stared at Talon. “And you let—”
“So you see,” Rora said, joining in. “He deserves even more than that.” Rora leapt through the air and tackled Talon to the ground.
Talon laughed and pushed her away while Rora continued to hit him over the head with her bow. Shorlorn and Luke cheered Rora on and “booed” Talon.
“That is enough!” the training teacher shouted, her face red. “I will escort you down to your Tactical Strategies classroom and allow Shadow to punish you how he sees fit. Fighting amongst yourselves…” the training teacher stopped, realizing what she had said.
“Shadow, huh?” Talon said, playing the part of the oblivious recruit perfectly. “What an interesting name.”
“I… I… Follow me!” the training teacher stomped off into the hall, a smiling Rebellion at her heels.
 
Chapter Eighteen
Rora
At first, Rora was thrilled to having a change in routine, but when she realized that she would be missing magic, her feelings changed.
“Guys,” she whispered, following the training teacher. “Guys, we’re going to miss magic.”
The three boys that she was with 24/7 turned around and stared at her. “That’s too bad,” Luke said, sympathetically.
“Great,” was Talon’s reply. Having nothing else to hit him with, Rora simply pushed him into the wall. Talon bounced back, grinning.
“I just feel bad for the poor team that has to endure the extra long lesson,” Shorlorn said.
“Should be Dragonfire,” Talon said after a moment’s thought. When his team stared at him incredulously, he added, “Yes, I’ve memorized everyone’s schedule. We’ll be interrupting Chaos’ Tactical Strategies, and Icefire has the day off.”
“I find that I must retract my earlier statement,” Shorlorn said. “I feel bad for Patrick. The rest of Alex’s team can go…” Shorlorn trailed off when the training teacher sent him a dirty look.
“Keep quiet,” she said sharply, rapping twice on the Tactical Strategies door.
“Come in,” Shadow’s voice said from inside. The Rebellion was led into the familiar room, met by confused stares from Chaos. Talon grinned mysteriously, and Rora rolled her eyes at him. He thought he was so cool. “What is going on?”
“Perhaps we should discuss this without the other group present?” the training teacher asked.
Shadow searched her face before nodding. “You may leave,” he told Chaos.
As she passed them, Cassie muttered, “You guys have got to be in some major trouble. Good luck.”
Once the door had closed, Talon spoke immediately. “So, Shadow, is it?”
Shadow sighed and looked to the training teacher. “What did you do?” he asked, sinking down into the chair behind his desk.
“I assure you, it was an accident,” she said, never breaking eye contact. She must be very sure of her safety, Rora mused. “They were fighting with each other—not sparring, outright fighting! The girl attacked Talon.”
“Hey,” Talon interrupted. “Don’t pin it all on Rora. She can’t help that she has anger issues.”
Rora clenched her fists and smiled politely at Talon, showing him that she would not be led into another conflict.
“She also can’t help that Talon is a tremendous jerk,” Shorlorn added.
“Or that she loves magic,” Luke said. “And Talon said that he didn’t like magic.”
“And, we’re back to anger issues,” Talon finished.
“Talon, I swear…” Rora said through gritted teeth.
Shadow sighed, rubbing his temples. He addressed the training teacher. “They were not fighting. They were simply expressing their friendship in a…strange way. Rora had no intention of hurting Talon.”
“I had every intention of hurting Talon,” Rora corrected.
“Perhaps, but Talon was never in any danger. Please, go back and ring the bell.”
“It’s all about Talon,” Shorlorn observed as the gym teacher stalked out of the room.
“Seems to be,” Talon agreed, sitting back in a chair. “Don’t you agree, Shadow?”
“I’m going to request that you do not call me that in public,” Shadow said. “It is imperative to the other teams’ training that my identity remains a secret. We cannot have them searching for answers they will not find. That would only interrupt their training. And, if you were to tell them or search for answers, I might have to go to extensive measures to insure everyone’s safety.”
Talon nodded. Then, as if he hadn’t just been threatened by Shadow, he said, “So, I take it we’re skipping magic?”
“Unbelievable!” Rora shouted. “Worst. Day. Ever.”

After a rather mellow Tactical Strategies (Shadow had to write an abundance of letters to sort out this newest disturbance), the Rebellion went to lunch. Word had spread fast about their visit to Shadow, and everyone was anxious to hear the story.
Unfortunately for them, Talon was a disappointment. “Sorry, guys. I’m not supposed to say.”
“Aw, come on!” Cassie said. “I was there. The training teacher was furious.”
“At least tell us your punishment,” Patrick begged. “You deserve one for making me stay in magic all that time.”
“There was no punishment,” Luke told them. “We got off free.”
“Oh, that is so not fair,” Patrick moaned. “Because we had extra time, the magic teachers started talking about the sons and daughters of the High Ones. No one wants to hear a half-hour explanation about why they have more power than the rest of us!”
After they were all done eating, they walked down to battles. The Rebellion would be fighting Icefire today, Rora observed. She stared wistfully off into the distance, imagining what that day’s magic lesson would have bee. Maybe they would have had extra time to talk about the High One’s, too.
“Rora?” Talon asked, tapping her on the shoulder.
“Yes?” she mumbled.
“Did you hear me?”
“You said something?” Rora asked, confused. She turned to face him, shaking her trance away.
“Yeah, I did. I said that we should take them out as quickly as possible,” Talon repeated patiently.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll listen now.”
“Like I said, we’ll take them down quickly. When the bell rings, wait for five seconds, then take off toward them screaming. That will be our distraction. Then, just defeat them as fast as you can.”
It wasn’t their most solid plan, Rora observed, but their last two had been suicidal. This one wasn’t so bad. Rora opened her eyes wide and pinched herself to make sure she was awake enough to do this. Rora waited for the bell and stretched her muscles.
Ring! Talon held up his hand, counting down on his fingers. When he reached zero, the Rebellion took off screaming toward Icefire. The most fun part was seeing their faces. They were expecting something clever—not head on like this. Rora realized that it was clever as she attacked the surprised mage. It was clever because it was unexpected. Icefire was defeated before they could draw their swords or release an arrow. Icefire stared at the Rebellion in disbelief as they were unfrozen.
Then, their archer began laughing and shooting arrows into the air like confetti. The rest of his team started laughing, too.
“No one will ever be as good as you, Talon,” Derrick, the commander, said.
As they walked up to the Student’s Lookout, Rora saw a sad smile on Talon’s face. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing, I suppose. We won,” he said.
“But…?” Rora prompted.
“But I think they’ve all realized that they can’t beat me, now. Now, battles won’t be nearly as fun.” Talon sighed and sat down in a worn chair, looking out the window at the battlefield. Only, his expression said that he wasn’t into it.
Although Talon was being ridiculous and melodramatic, Rora felt bad. Battles were his favorite part of the day, and now, they presented no challenge to him. Rora imagined that Talon was getting bored of Battle Camp.
“Yeah, well,” Rora said, trying to cheer him up. “Maybe there’s another Battle Camp where the battles are twice as hard, and we’ll be transferred there now that you can clearly beat everyone.”
Talon smiled at Rora, and her stomach flipped. At once she decided to ignore the feeling. She didn’t… Nope. She was ignoring it.
On their way back to their room, Rora finally felt awake. It was a bittersweet victory because Rora realized that she would be sleeping soon.
“Hey, Talon?” Shorlorn asked just outside the door. “Can I investigate tonight?”
“Sure, Shorlorn,” Talon agreed.
“Great,” Shorlorn said, opening the door. “It’s finally my turn. I was beginning to feel left out.”
Because she was awake, Rora lit a candle in her section and started a new magic book. She heard Shorlorn’s heavy footsteps as he made his way to the door.
“Shorlorn, please come back with something worth knowing,” Talon requested when Shorlorn reached the door.
“By ‘worth knowing,’ do you mean secret information? Or, is it things like hearing that you’re a god?”
“Either would be fine.” Rora rolled her eyes. Talon sounded dead serious. “No, seriously, I like hearing that I’m a god.”
“Whatever you say, commander,” Shorlorn agreed dramatically, slipping out the door.
 
Chapter Nineteen
Luke
Luke had fallen asleep immediately, barely awake for the final exchange Shorlorn and Talon had before Shorlorn left. Luke’s obliviousness didn’t last for very long at all. Luke woke to the sound of Shorlorn’s heavy footfalls on the stone floor. “You have to come with me!” Shorlorn said, excitedly. “You have to see to believe!”
“What? Are you okay?” Talon asked groggily.
“I’m fine, but you guys have to come with me!” Once Shorlorn had pulled everyone from their beds and into the hallway, he explained. “I didn’t listen in on Shadow’s conversation tonight; I decided to explore further down the hallway.”
Luke remembered Talon saying originally that was what he wanted Rora to do the first time. “What did you find?” Luke asked.
“I found—Oh, I can’t just say it. You have to see it!” Luke had never seen Shorlorn so excited before.
Once they, made it to the long, dark hallway, they slowed down and walked quietly. They walked past the third door on the left. Luke noted the quiet voices coming from within, but didn’t stop. Shorlorn walked past all of the wooden doors. At the end of the hallway, there was a stairway that Shorlorn promptly began to climb. They steps seemed to never end, and the work is tiring.
Despite this, they don’t begin to sweat. “It’s cold!” Rora complained, confused.
“Yeah,” Shorlorn agreed, but this only seemed to increase his excitement.
Luke watched as Talon’s face seemed to light up with understanding, and he began to climb with more fervor. Luke and Rora huffed along behind them, Rora hopping up the cold stairs, her feet bare.
“Should have worn shoes,” Rora muttered angrily.
“No kidding,” Luke agreed.
They finally made it to the top of the stairs and they saw a door. Shorlorn grabbed the brass knob and turned. A cold gust of wind almost knocked Luke back down the stairs. Luke grabbed the railing to make sure nothing of the sort happened. Flurries of snowflakes blew in, getting tangled in Rora’s hair and instantly blending in with the white strands.
They were standing on top of a mountain.
“Isn’t this great?” Shorlorn exclaimed, laughing into the cold air. “We can get out of here. We’re free!”
“Only one small problem,” Luke realized aloud. “How are we going to get down? That would be a long, cold walk.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Talon said passionately. “This is huge! We’re closer than we’ve ever been before.”
“All of those long nights have finally paid off,” Luke agreed, squinting into the night. It was cold, but Luke embraced it. “Good work, Shorlorn!”
The Rebellion did not climb down the stairs immediately. The enjoyed their victory, and stared down at the world below them. Luke felt as if he had never been higher than this in his life. It was exhilarating.
“We should go back,” Talon observed, finally. “We can figure this out in the morning.”
Shorlorn agreed and pulled shut the door with some effort. The Rebellion bounced down the stairs, still reveling in the closeness of their victory. Once they reached the bottom, they stalked down the hallways and made their way back to their room.
Luke pulled himself into bad, his gangly body bumping into the wooden frame of the bed. The question sprung to his mind once more: How would they get down the mountain? Luke had an idea, but he decided that it could wait until morning.
Luke’s heart was still racing with the excitement that came with Shorlorn’s discovery. He took a deep breath and relaxed. Everything would be fine, he told himself.
We’re getting out.

Throughout the morning Luke looked for opportunities to present his idea to Talon, but none came. Despite never improving with his knife throwing (the target range was far too limited for that), Luke always enjoyed it. It was the one time of day when he could relax and really think. Today, he only had one thing on his mind: getting out of Battle Camp.
This thought occupied his thoughts throughout a mind-numbing magic class, and he earned a few extra assignments. He didn’t care though. It wasn’t like he would do them—not with escape so near. Luke had planned on telling Talon between magic and Tactical Strategies, but Rora interrupted him and tried to give Talon brain damage with her book. As usual, no one paid Shadow any attention in Tactical Strategies.
But then, Talon asked about Shadow’s name. “Shadow is a weird name. Is it your real name?”
Shadow sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot around Talon, nowadays. “No, it is not, but I have gone by it for many years now. Please, don’t ask any more questions. It’s for your own good.”
At lunch, Cassie kept trying to get the Rebellion involved in the conversation. “Why are you guys all so tired?” she asked when her efforts proved fruitless.
“We had a midnight trek around Battle Camp last night,” Talon said, earning a smile from his team.
Cassie snorted. “Not up to your usual standards, but it’s an improvement on silence.”
“I think it was actually one of his best,” Luke replied.
“Me too,” Rora agreed. “But you guys wouldn’t get it.”
Cassie stared at them incredulously. “Did you guys actually wander around Battle Camp last night?”
Rora rolled her eyes, and the rest of the Rebellion laughed. “Of course not,” Talon said. “We would be dead meat if we did.”
Finally, on their way to battles, Luke got his chance to tell Talon his idea.
“I know how we can get down the mountain,” Luke whispered to Talon.
“I’m listening,” replied Talon, suddenly alert. He stopped in the hallway letting the other teams pass by to give Luke his full attention.
“Our bed frames are wooden! We could made sleds out of them and slide down the mountain.” Talon just stared at Luke. “Did you hear me?”
A smile slowly crept onto Talon’s face. “Yeah, I did. I just never expected an opportunity like this so soon. It’s mind blowing how close we are.”
“So, I guess this makes up for almost getting caught?” Luke asked hopefully.
“Huh? Oh, yeah! Luke, you were forgiven the moment you came back. No worries.”
Luke grinned, and he and Talon ran to catch up with the others. “We’ll tell Rora and Shorlorn tonight, so they can focus on the battle,” Talon told Luke. “Man, this is overwhelming! We could leave tonight!”
“Good,” Luke said. “I, for one, do not want to do that magic assignment.”
Luke doubted that Talon heard him. He could tell from his expression that he was deep in thought analyzing the idea, taking it apart and finding all the possible ways it could go wrong. Luke decided that keeping quiet and leaving him alone was the best thing he could do and walked in silence. Rora and Shorlorn were already in the lookout, so they hurried up the steps. After last night’s climb, every individual step was agonizing.
“So, Talon, what’s our battle strategy?” Shorlorn asked quietly, so the other team wouldn’t hear.
“Hmm?” asked Talon? Luke knew that he was too absorbed in his thoughts to listen or look at the crate arrangement.
“I said, what’s our battle strategy?” Shorlorn’s confusion was easily understood. Talon would normally have been explaining some complex-but-somehow-simple strategy to them by now.
“Oh, I guess just do whatever. I’m sure you guys can handle it.”
“Okay,” Shorlorn said, unsure.
Dragonfire beat Chaos, as was expected. Rora and Shorlorn walked onto the battlefield, conversing with Luke and trying to think up a spectacular plan for their battle. Talon, Luke knew, was thinking of an entirely different plan.
 
Chapter Twenty
Shorlorn
Shorlorn wasn’t as sure as he normally was considering the absence of a battle plan. Talon was up to something, but Shorlorn couldn’t tell what. His mind wasn’t on the battle—that was for sure. The bell rang, but the Rebellion didn’t move. Talon hadn’t told them to. Shorlorn realized just how lost they would be without Talon. They didn’t have to wait long for Icefire to charge out at them.
They were in a diamond formation with Derrick in front, the mage and protector in the middle, and their archer taking up the rear. Shorlorn recalled learning that formation a few days ago in Tactical Strategies.
An arrow flew at them, and Rora took charge, stopping and turning it around with her magic. Luke began to climb a crate to get a better view, and Shorlorn and Talon launched themselves into the battle. It didn’t take long for the Rebellion to be declared the winners, even without a good strategy, or one at all, really.
Icefire didn’t know that, though, and they raved about it at dinner.
“Wow, Talon! That was a good strategy,” Derrick exclaimed. “I didn’t expect you to sit and wait like that, but it totally worked.”
“Huh,” Rora murmured.
“Totally,” Shorlorn agreed with her unspoken thought.
“I mean—really!” Luke concluded.
The Rebellion, excluding Talon who was still absorbed in his thoughts, laughed.
Ignoring the strange exchange, Chris added, “Yeah, I don’t know why we even bother trying.”
Talon smiled politely, but didn’t bask in the glory like he usually did.
“Talon, are you okay?” Rora wondered.
“Yeah, why?” Talon answered mechanically.
“You were just given a compliment,” Shorlorn explained, equally confused.
“So?”
“Yeah, there is definitely something wrong with you,” Rora realized. “What’s up? First the thing at the battle, and now this?”
“What thing at the battle?” Derrick asked.
“Remember that brilliant strategy we used?” Luke asked. Derrick nodded. “There was no strategy. We just put that together as we went.”
While Icefire protested indignantly, Rora repeated her question, “What’s wrong, Talon?” she asked leaning toward him.
“I’ll tell you back in the room,” he murmured. “For now, just… quiet. I need you to be quiet.”
Rora pulled away, a hurt look on her face. Shorlorn understood the feeling. What was wrong with Talon? He had never spoken to Rora, or anyone, like that before. The Rebellion ate their meal in silence from that point on, ignoring the comments made by the other teams.
Once they were back in their room, Rora asked her question again, only this time she used a ruder tone. Shorlorn gathered that she was upset. “So, what’s the matter with you?”
“We’re getting out,” he explained. “Sorry, for earlier. I just needed to think.”
“I don’t care about your apologies!” Rora shouted, her anger forgotten with the revelation. “When is this happening?”
Talon’s small smile widened into a grin. “Tonight.”
“Tonight?” Luke said. “I didn’t think it would be that soon.”
“Yeah, but how are we going to do it?” Shorlorn asked anxiously.
Talon’s brow creased with worry, and he was lost in thought once more. Shorlorn though he knew why. It was because they all looked to him for orders. They relied on him. And why? Because Shadow had made him their commander. Talon didn’t have a choice in the matter. Shorlorn knew that this position was easy for him. All it asked what that he used the skills he already had to protect his group. Rora and Luke were the same. They didn’t have to work very hard to use their skills to benefit their group. Talon was different, in way, though. He had to support this group. That was something he probably hadn’t done much of before he ended up at Battle Camp.
“How are we going to get out?” Rora repeated after a few more seconds passed in silence.
Talon snapped out of his trance. “Luke has a plan.”
Everyone looked to Luke expectantly. Luke stared at them for a second before launching into his plan. “Okay, well, we’ll take the wood off our beds and make sleds out of them to get down the mountain. But, I don’t see how we can get that all done tonight.”
Everyone looked back to Talon. “Magic,” he said.
“Magic,” Rora reiterated, her eyes shining with anticipation.
“Okay, let’s get to work. Rora and I, but mostly Rora, will make the sleds. You two, um… stand guard.”
Talon and Rora stripped the beds of their wood quickly and quietly. Quickly because they had to and quietly because they were too scared not to. Luke and Shorlorn stood by the door and fidgeted. When Talon and Rora were finished, the “sleds” were basically rectangles with edges so that you wouldn’t fall off. There was no way to steer, no way to get back in control if you spun away from the others. Just a rectangle with edges held together by magic. Shorlorn wished they were better, but with such little time and so few resources they would have to do.
“Let’s get going,” Talon whispered, handing everyone their sled.
They made their way across camp and up the steps. With the added weight of the sleds, everyone was exhausted. They crowded together on the small platform at the top of the stairs and panted for a few seconds. Then, their excitement took over again. Shorlorn shrugged into his jacked that he had taken off during the long climb and opened the door.
The Rebellion trudged out into the deep snow and carefully set their sleds down on the steep slope. Shorlorn felt nerves creep into his stomach and swallowed. Apparently, he was afraid of heights.
“Shall we go?” Luke asked, appearing to have no reaction to their height at all.
Rora nodded enthusiastically.
“Before we do, Rora, how are you feeling in terms of ability to perform? Magic-wise, I mean?”
“Fine, why do you ask?”
“We could very easily slide away from each other on our way down. Do you think that you could keep us together?”
Rora looked unsure. “I’ll try my best.”
“That’s all I’m asking for,” Talon assured. “Now, let’s get out of here.”
The Rebellion grinned at each other and sad down in their sleds and began the long, cold journey away from the only place Shorlorn could remember.
 

Chapter Twenty
Talon
Talon sat down on his sled. It moved slowly at first, but rapidly picked up speed. Talon realized that the sleds were worse than they looked. It was nearly impossible to steer, and he had almost fallen off more than once already. Talon shouted orders, but he could hardly hear himself above the wind whipping past his face. He doubted anyone would catch his words of encouragement.
Talon’s only goal became to stay on his sled. The sides helped a little bit, but not much. He found himself wondering how he could have agreed to such a crazy idea. How had Luke even come up with it in the first place? Talon began to stray farther and farther from the group, and no matter how much he leaned he couldn’t make his way back. It was no use.
Suddenly, Rora was right beside him. Talon stared in disbelief. Her sled was flying! Then, he felt his sled lifting him up, and he was flying, too. While she was taking him back to the group, Talon said, “This isn’t exactly what I was thinking of, but great work!” Rora didn’t respond, too absorbed in her spell. When Rora set him down next to Luke and went to get Shorlorn who was nothing but a speck in the distance.
When she finally set her sled back down next to Talon’s sled, she looked worn-out. “Flying takes a lot of energy,” she explained, sounding as drained as she looked.
They flew down the hill in a rough formation for a while, each stuck in their own thoughts. Talon was wondering if there was ever going to be an end, or if they were just doomed to sled down the mountain forever. Then, he saw a town. The light coming from several lanterns streamed through the gloom. They lit up the world around them, and Talon found his spirits lifting. The town was small, only a few buildings, but the sight was welcoming. The Rebellion grinned at each other, whooping with glee.
Until all their sleds stopped at once, flinging their bodies into the snow. Talon pulled himself to his feet and saw Rora with her hand on her chest. “Magic!” she called out. “Look for the mage!”
The Rebellion did as they were told, but found none. Talon saw something black in the corner of his eyes. He whirled around. He saw two figures, one dressed in a black cloak, flying toward them. Soon enough, they had caught everyone’s attention.
Talon observed his surroundings and calculated a battle strategy. “Luke, climb that tree. Rora, get in front of it, and Shorlorn, you stay with me. Prepare for a battle,” Talon ordered.
Talon watched Luke scale the tree with ease, preparing his knives as he went. Rora situated herself in front of the tree. Talon and Shorlorn shivered a few feet away from her, watching the two figures land in front of them.
“We do not wish to hurt you,” cried their training teacher over the howling wind.
“But we will if we have to,” added Shadow.
Talon knew that his group expected him to reply, but he stayed silently in the guard position, sword at the ready. He didn’t think that he could do much against Shadow’s magic, but he might be able to take out the training teacher.
“You are talented students and valuable assets to Battle Camp. We need you back in the school,” Shadow stated. Talon still didn’t say anything, but smiled at the word school. He remembered saying, ‘So they’re not trying to kill us, right?’ Maybe that was true then, but now Talon couldn’t be so sure. “Come back with us,” Shadow said.
Then Talon spoke. “Only if you tell us the truth.” He heard Rora gasp in outrage behind him. He knew she didn’t want to go back after all the effort they had put in to get to this point.
“What do you want to know?” the training teacher asked.
“What’s your name?”
“Diane,” answered Shadow, taking control of the conversation.
“Do you ever address her by it? I swear out of all those conversations you never once said her name,” Talon mused, purposefully giving up the information.
It was Diane’s turn to gasp in outrage. “So it was you?”
“Yes,” Rora said. “All of us. We are in this together.” Talon ignored the subtext in her words.
“But, you said…” Diane turned to Shadow.
“I said that I had no proof. I always suspected that it was the Rebellion.” Shadow laughed at the name, truly realizing the meaning for the first time. “Rora was the only mage strong enough to recreate the mind block.”
Talon noted this and moved on to his next question. “What is the purpose of this school?”
“We never lied to you about that. We train teenagers like you for the King’s army. Some become assassins, spies, and soldiers, but a select few become commanders.”At this, every member turned to look at Talon.
“Talon was a likely candidate for that,” Diane added as if it wasn’t obvious to them.
“Can we have our memories back?” Talon asked. This was the question he had been holding onto since he realized that they were missing. As the days passed by, he found that he was asking who the girl was less and less, and this disturbed him.
“No,” Shadow said firmly. “No, we take them away for good reasons. Just look at Rora.”
“Yes, I suspected that she got her memories back when she became more timid in class. Now, I know I’m right,” Diane added.
Talon could tell that Rora was mad about being called timid. Even if it wasn’t evident, magic sparks sizzled on her fingertips.
“See, timid.” Diane shrugged. “Before she lost her memories, she would have launched a fireball at me.”
This sent Rora over the edge. She sent raw magic soaring out of her hands and into Diane’s chest. Diane flew backward, her mouth a surprised O before landing in the snow.
“Who’s timid now?” Rora snarled.
Shadow looked unaffected by this latest happening. He stayed calm and said, “Our kingdom is on the brink of a war that we cannot win without a leader; a tactical master. We don’t have one yet.”
“Well, good luck finding one,” Rora muttered.
“He means Talon,” Shorlorn realized.
Talon knew then that they were going back; he couldn’t let a country down like that. It wasn’t his nature.
“We have to go back,” Talon said quietly.
“What?” shouted Rora. “No!” Sparks danced on her palms once again.
“I have to,” Talon answered, trying to convey his feeling of responsibility to her.
“I’m going with him,” Shorlorn said.
Luke descended from the tree, a silent shadow up until then. “Me too.”
Rora sparks died on her hands, and she deflated. “Fine. I’ll go, too.”
With the Rebellion in agreement, they were all lifted up by Shadow’s magic, and they flew back toward Battle Camp. No, Talon realized. Not just Battle Camp, our school.
Our home.

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FIN.